We have performed top-load tests on our PET bottle production line for nearly a decade with Mecmesin equipment, which has proved extremely robust and reliable. We plan to upgrade our QC test equipment soon and I will have no hesitation in sticking with Mecmesin.

We use cookies on our website to ensure that we give you the best user experience.

By continuing to browse our site, you are agreeing to the use of our COOKIES POLICY. Learn more

I understand

Mecmesin Solutions for the Consumer Packaging Sector

We live in a pre-packed world where the majority of end-user goods are supplied in packaging that protects, but that is designed to be opened easily. This amount of packaging, and the growth in environmental regulation creates pressure to produce it with minimal waste and expense, whilst being fit for purpose. Puncture resistance is combined with pre-tear perforation, security closure with ease of opening. Pharmaceutical packaging is designed for maximum seal and yet minimum peel. For top-load strength, capping and uncapping, plastic bottles require thickness, but only where needed. Spray cans must require the correct finger pressure, and ring-pulls not break nails or cut fingers. The more packaging becomes aesthetic in itself, the more difficult it can be to grip and test.

At Mecmesin we design force and torque systems and fixtures for packaging products of all kinds, so that you can apply industry standard test methods in both design, and on the production floor for quality control. Our Emperor™ control and analysis software is powerful and flexible for reliable, accurate, repeatable testing at the push of a button.

Click these examples of products our clients are testing using Mecmesin systems

Closures, caps, corks and stoppers

Are your closures working for your customers? How likely are leaks or customer frustrations with difficulty in openability? Regular testing is affordable and protects brand integrity . Consumer packaging, especially in beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, employs a wide variety of closures, from flip-caps to wine corks. Many are fitted with tamper-evident, pilfer-proof or child-resistant features.

Testing for design, quality assurance, or for the closure process, require rapid turn-around with fixtures that may require an element of customisation for best fit. Mecmesin testers range from digital cap-testing instruments operated by hand, to semi-automated torque and force machines to remove cork stoppers. With Mecmesin’s Emperor™ control and data analysis software and a Vortex torque tester, slip torque, bridge torque, removal torque and reverse ratchet torque can all be measured, to understand the total performance of a screw-cap closure. Flip caps, push-fit closures and elastomeric vial closures can all be measured using Mecmesin MultiTest stands, for tensile measurement.

Cosmetics packaging

Affordable testers and expert service, for cosmetics packaging

What is the end-user experience of your cosmetics packaging towards end of use? Working well, or falling apart? Testing both helps your design and your quality assurance. Cosmetics packaging frequently features the means of application and dispensing, including propelling lipsticks, mascara brushes, pumps, sprays, and rollers. Many are designed for repeated use over considerable time. Mecmesin testers can meet the needs of the very light torque for a lipstick, through to the variety of tests required for assessing the integrity of more complex multi-part applicators.

Food containers

Affordable testers and expert service, for food containers

Do your cartons look good on the supermarket shelf? Does anyone get frustrated because a container has collapsed in their bag, or won’t open easily at home? Test before it happens, and protect your brand. Food containers, packaging and trays provide mechanical protection for contents. The seal for modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), or for retorts and pouches of fluid contents, clearly must provide maximum seal but be readily opened by peel or tear. For stocking and stacking in-store, trays and cartons require crush resilience, whilst lids, closures and perforations must be user-friendly.

At the level of construction, the creasing force of carton packaging and unfolding force is important for the filling machines, since packs supplied flat must open without bending or tearing. A wide variety of materials are used, increasingly with an eye to minimising, or using recycled constituents, so testing in design as well as quality assurance for use, is essential. A Mecmesin universal test system provides an affordable and versatile solution for all these test requirements, from design to production-floor quality control.

Glass and ceramics

Affordable testers and expert service, for glass and ceramics

How tough is your toughened glass? How much force can your ceramic floor tiles take? Or how high do you stack your bottles? Is that new jar design as strong as the last? A computerised compression testing system will tell you, accurately, every time.

Though stronger than plastic containers, glass is also heavier, and the same requirement applies, to balance weight and strength whilst optimising material thickness. Whilst a PET bottle will ‘give’ under top-load, glass failure is catastrophic. Testers with higher crush capacity and safety enclosures are therefore required. Ceramic materials and glass panels are tested for their flexural strength and breaking point, using three-point bend fixtures. For all these applications, Mecmesin MultiTest universal testing machines provide an ideal solution.

Locks, catches and clips

Affordable testers and expert service, for locks, catches and clips

Confident in every click? Whatever it is that clicks into place, you can measure precisely what it takes, and whether it’s the smooth, positive action you intend.

Locks, catches and clips are found everywhere, from ultra-high security, to everyday use, simply as exchangeable fastenings, and down to the lightest hold. In most cases they must operate within given tolerances to lock, unlock, simply hold, and provide correct resistance to opening. Cyclic testing for wear and tear may also be a requirement, and they may be combined with the operation of locks and handles. Release forces and closure effort are frequently very different, so for example measuring a high tensile strength but also a manually-applied locking movement can be quite different tests. Mecmesin MultiTest series universal force testers are ideal, with appropriate loadcells and fixtures for different applications.

Mecmesin Vortex torque testers provide all you need for rotary locks and clips. It can also be necessary to measure locks and catches in situ, requiring hand-held instruments. Mecmesin digital force gauges provide the accuracy and means of data capture for these applications.

Metal bottles and containers

Affordable testers and expert service, for metal bottles and containers

The recyclability of metals makes them suitable for many containers, where rigidity and heat sensitivity, or resilience to contents also matter. As with any packaging, minimising the amount of metal required is an important element. Knowing the safe stacking height is important for storage, as is knowing the resistance to lateral forces in use.

International standard methods for column crush are reliably applied using Mecmesin MultiTest universal testers, with all the versatility for performing related test requirements on closures and transit packaging.

Paper-based goods

Affordable testers and expert service, for paper-based goods

The virtue of paper is in being highly printable, with good tensile strength. Its tear properties make it suitable for intended easy opening, but can present difficulties in handling. Mechanised print and production moves paper at very high speeds, so understanding the tear resistance of each paper type and its friction properties is very important so that machinery can be properly adjusted. With so many paper types from different sources, and their varieties of coatings, a Mecmesin MultiTest universal tester, programmed for each type of test, is an invaluable cost and time saving investment.

Pharmaceutical and sterile packaging

Affordable testers and expert service, for pharmaceutical and sterile packaging

If you manufacture or supply pharmaceutical and sterile packaging, you need accurate and reliable computer-controlled testing systems to apply industry standard test methods. The most stringent standards apply to pharmaceutical and sterile packaging. Designed for maximum seal but minimum peel, aseptic semi-rigid and flexible packaging must survive sterilization processes and retain total integrity to the point of use, and then be opened, often with surgical gloves, in a predictable and controlled way.

Equally, elastomeric vial closures and blister packs must perform reliably, as must any external packaging. Only accurate and repeatable testing to industry standard methods can ensure full compliance with quality standards. Mecmesin universal MultiTest systems can be programmed with the required standards for rapid and reliable testing, including sample tracing for audit trail. Pharmaceutical packaging also makes use of tamper-evident and child-proof closures (CRCs), for which a Mecmesin Vortex torque tester is ideal. Using the same software as for the MultiTest, its operation requires little additional training.

Plastic bottles and containers

Affordable testers and expert service, for plastic bottles and containers

How are you top-load testing your bottles? Will those sachets burst if they are packed too tightly? What are your stacking limits based on? Plastic bottles and containers combine attractive design with precise engineering to ensure economy of materials with user-attractiveness, ease of use, packing density, and strength.

Wall thickness and profiling are carefully adjusted, but physical testing ensures best design and quality assurance in production. Mecmesin test systems are designed for ease of use on the production floor in quality control, where repeated and rapid testing is required.

Retort containers and pouches

Affordable testers and expert service, for retort containers and pouches

Probably all of us have felt frustration in opening a packet and having to resort to knife or scissors. Is your brand on that lid? In-house testing in the production line can ensure that it is not. Food pouches, popular for packing density and low-volume disposal, rely on welded seams, and have access point closures for peeling, piercing, tearing, and sometimes resealing. Retorts with peel-back lids should not tear or delaminate in the process.

All these tests, for opening, and for resilience in transit and perhaps refrigeration, can be performed with a Mecmesin MultiTest universal tester, fitted with the appropriate grips, fixtures and, if necessary, failure containment.

Seals and seams

Affordable testers and expert service, for seals and seams

Seals and seams, whether elastic, adhesive or welded, are designed to hold under various forces that may drive or pull them apart. Failure may be due to internal pressure, peeling or tensile shear. Some seals are designed to fail at a given force, either for opening or to release pressure for safety. In all cases, the point of failure is important, and for all test types there is a suitable Mecmesin MultiTest, computer-controlled for repeatable testing at the touch of a button. Routine testing of seal strength is a vital part of quality assurance, and is best done at the point of production.

Tear perforations

Affordable testers and expert service, for tear perforations

Carton in one hand, half a tear-off strip in the other? It’s all too familiar, but you don’t want it to be your brand. In-house testing of your tear openings is affordable and ensures consumer confidence. Cardboard and paper packaging, bag or paper rolls, regularly employ perforated tear strips for controlled opening and separation. To ensure the die-cutting process is working optimally, samples need to be tested. Specifications and methods will be particular to products, but repeatable testing to expected manual forces as in normal use, is essential.

The pattern of a controlled tear is also important, such that a strip, for example, tears fully end to end without breaking. An affordable Mecmesin tensile tester, with Emperor™ control and analysis software, can perform all your routine packaging tear tests.